Nearly a year after Judge Denny Chin was confirmed to the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court, and more than 13 months after his hearing on the Google Book Settlement, he finally ruled. the settlement “is not fair, adequate or reasonable” and is rejected. While Judge Chin outlines a number of concerns, he notes one fundamental change that could make it acceptable: change it from opt-out to opt-in, and Chin says, “I urge the parties to consider revising the ASA accordingly.” Of course that would literally change everything, not only removing the settlement’s attempt to provide a legal and business-driven solution to identifying […]
Archives for March 2011
As the Publishing World Turns: Amanda Hocking Close to Seven-Figure Book Deal
On the same day Barry Eisler turned down half a million dollars from Minotaur Books to self-publish, news emerged publicly that Amanda Hocking appears to be doing the exact opposite. Yesterday afternoon the NYT finally caught wind of what many in the industry have known about for weeks now, which is that agent Steve Axelrod is shopping a new four-book series to publishers, attracting bids “of well over $1 million for world English rights,” according to two unnamed publishing executives who spoke with the paper, and that the auction may be complete by today. Sources in turn tell us that Penguin […]
Launching…Publishers Launch Conferences
Today we are excited to announce the launch of a venture of ours, in partnership with leading consultant Mike Shatzkin of The Idea Logical Company: Publishers Launch Conferences. Building on our successful collaboration with F+W Media on the two Digital Book World shows, Publishers Launch Conferences aims to help trade publishing professionals navigate and maximize the digital transition through educational gatherings all over the world throughout the year. Designed to offer focused, practical, near-term ideas and strategies, we will gather data, solutions, experts and more on an ongoing basis, with each new event adding to the core of information to […]
More eNews: Amazon Appstore is Live as They Put Kibosh on Lendle
The aforementioned Android Appstore that has Apple launching legal action against Amazon is now live. What’s being touted is the exclusive Android edition of Angry Birds Rio, but the books and comics section also features a variety of free and paid apps from Oceanhouse Media and WattPad. Appstore Ebook lending library company Lendle found itself in Amazon’s crosshairs yesterday, as the service, built on top of Amazon’s Kindle lending feature, was shut down on the grounds that it did not “serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.” So far the shutdown appears […]
Infringe This: Apple Sues Amazon Over “Appstore” Name, While Microsoft Upset at B&N Over Nook OS Invented By Some Other Company
Yesterday provided an almost embarrassing wealth of stories highlighting how sensitive technology companies can be about supposed infringement – especially when what’s vexing them the most involves another company not involved in legal action at all. For Apple, the very fact that Amazon named its Android app store, well, “Appstore,” caused enough conniptions for them to file a complaint last Friday in Northern California Federal Court, Bloomberg reports. “Amazon has begun improperly using Apple’s App Store mark in connection with Amazon’s mobile-software developer program,” Apple said in the complaint. They trademarked the term “app store” in July 2008, a move […]
People, Etc.
Rodrigo Corral joins FSG as creative director starting in early April. He is currently (and will remain) head of Rodrigo Corral Design. Susan Piver has been named editor-at-large for Shambhala Publications. Yvette Chin has joined Digital Book World as content editor, where she will write articles, coordinate contributors, and help map out editorial strategy for the community site. Amazon books editor Tom Nissley is leaving the company after more than ten years to devote more time to writing, funded largely from his recent stint on Jeopardy, where the eight-time-champion won more than $250,000. Omnivoracious Post Ralph Kohn, who managed Kepler’s Bookstore […]